Direct laser fabrication of large-area and patterned graphene at room temperature

Direct fabrication of graphene on solid carbon coated nickel surface was realized by laser irradiation at room temperature. High-quality graphene was obtained rapidly, e.g. 28.8 cm2/min. Arbitrary patterns designed by computer aided design (CAD) software were fabricated directly on Ni substrates without additional mask or setup. Raman mapping results showed that monolayer/bilayer graphene regions accounted for 64% of the film area. Graphene films exhibited excellent resistance to corrosion. The extremely low corrosion current density and high free corrosion potential in 3.5% NaCl aqueous (aq) solutions showed that the as-produced graphene had a superior anti-corrosion performance. The penetration and precipitation mechanism of carbon into Ni substrate during the fabrication process were also discussed. This approach may reach the scale large enough for practical applications.